Land Use Effects on Streamflow and Water Quality in the Northeastern United States
Features
Summary
Filling a long-standing need for a desk reference that synthesizes current research, Land Use Effects on Streamflow and Water Quality in the Northeastern United States reviews and discusses the impact of forest management, agriculture, and urbanization. The book provides a gateway to the diverse scientific literature that is urgently needed to understand and solve ubiquitous watershed management problems. The authors use an in-depth approach that focuses on the science behind sound management principles and practices.
The book begins with a summary of the scientific principles and processes that define and govern the interactions between activities on land and conditions in streams, lakes, and estuaries. Building on these principles, later chapters progress from basic science to small-scale, controlled field experiments to landscape-scale studies and their watershed management implications. This nested format parallels the development of watershed management projects and solutions. The deliberate integration of land use history, ecology, hydrology, chemistry, and resource management avoids the artificial separation of inter-related watershed characteristics and tracks causes and effects over realistic time scales.
The authors present the hydrologic and water quality principles on which to construct management plans for water supply watersheds across a wide range of sizes, configurations, and time scales. Rigorously reviewed by a distinguished panel of scientists and watershed managers, the book benefits from their collective experience across the full range of watershed science and management. It provides a diverse audience with the opportunity to update and expand their knowledge in critical areas of watershed science and management.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Geographic and Scientific Scope of this Book
The Structure and Organization of this Book
The Physical Environment of the Northeastern United States
Population Growth and Distribution
Summary
Fundamentals of Hydrology
Introduction
The Water Balance
The Energy Balance
Precipitation
Water Movement and Storage in Soils
Evapotranspiration
Streamflow
Stream Channel Form and Function
Summary of Fundamental Principles
Nutrients, Pesticides, and Metals
Introduction
Nutrient Cycling and Conservation
Pesticides
Metals
Atmospheric Deposition
The Results of Nutrient Pollution: Accelerated Eutrophication
Summary
The Stream Ecosystem
Introduction
Aquatic Biota
Stream Habitat
Biological Monitoring
Summary
Riparian Areas and Riparian Buffers
Introduction
Riparian Areas
Riparian Buffers
Summary
Forest Management and Natural Disturbances
Introduction
Logging and Forest Conversion in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries
Forest Watershed Research
Changes in Streamflow, Sediment, Channel Form, and Temperature Following Forest Canopy Disturbance
Water Chemistry After Forest Canopy Disturbance
Effects of Forest Canopy Disturbance On Stream Ecosystems
Best Management Practices
Summary and Conclusions
Forest Conversion to Agriculture
Introduction
Development of the Agricultural Landscape (1620 to 1930)
Agricultural Research: Soil and Water
Changes in Streamflow, Sediment, and Channel Form Following Agricultural Clearing and Development
Agricultural Land Use and Water Chemistry
Agricultural Effects on Aquatic Ecosystems
Agricultural BMPs
Current Management Issues
Summary and Conclusions
Forest Conversion to Urban and Suburban Land Use
Introduction
Research in Urban Hydrology
Changes in Streamflow, Sediment, Channel Form, and Temperature Following Urban Development
Water Chemistry in Urban Streams
Urban Development and Aquatic Ecosystems
Urban BMPs
Stream Restoration
Summary and Conclusions
Mixed Land Use and Cumulative Effects
Regional Variation in Watershed Land Use
Watershed Analysis in Mixed Land Use Watersheds
Cumulative Effects
Summary and Conclusions
Conclusions and Management Implications
Introduction
The Biophysical Environment, Streamflow, and Water Quality
Current Research, Conservation, and Restoration Issues
Building Public Support
Summary and Conclusions
Index
